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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 480 responses total. |
gelinas
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response 25 of 480:
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Sep 30 03:58 UTC 2003 |
(I meant the rejection notice, not the original message.)
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rcurl
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response 26 of 480:
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Sep 30 06:13 UTC 2003 |
I've had my recent mail to umich.edu rejected the same way. They have
a problem.
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keesan
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response 27 of 480:
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Sep 30 14:23 UTC 2003 |
I had all the mail I sent rejected after that including some to other places.
I will try again tomorrow.
A friend sent me a copy of an Ann Arbor News article about Bexxar, the
radioactive form of Rituxan (sp?) which apparently was approved for general
use this June. I hope I don't need it but I sure timed things right. The
article says Dr. Kaminski plays classical piano.
Since I can't send mail through to Bedford Labs I may phone again and ask them
to find out how long the laryngitis is likely to last after therapy ends.
The third batch of pears is doing well. The tree is out of pears. Jim says
that our ajvar does not taste like the commercial stuff. I read him the label
- salt, sugar, vinegar. We did not add these.
I think the radioactive Bexxar may have been used primarily on patients whose
bone marrow was cancerous. They have no immune system left (perhaps due to
treatment?) so the regular antibody method would not be of much use since it
simply labels cells for attack by the immune system. The radioactive form
kills these labelled cells directly. But only 95% of B-cell lymphoma cells
have the protein needed by the antibody for recognition so neither method
would work on the unlucky 5% of people whose cells don't have that protein.
People are working on another antibody that recognizes another protein.
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keesan
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response 28 of 480:
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Sep 30 18:55 UTC 2003 |
I read some more about Bexxar. For a few days to a week after treatment with
this drug (which contains radioactive iodine) the patient has to stay in a
hospital room, either private or shared with another Bexxar patient, with lead
screens around the bed to protect the nursing staff from the irradiation.
Hospitalization is to protect innocent bystanders from being irradiated by
the patient. This does not sound like a terribly safe treatment for the
patient but it is better than dying when all else has failed.
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tod
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response 29 of 480:
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Sep 30 19:03 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 30 of 480:
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Sep 30 19:06 UTC 2003 |
It might be interesting to do it in a cloud chamber.
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tod
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response 31 of 480:
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Sep 30 19:11 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 32 of 480:
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Sep 30 20:52 UTC 2003 |
Some do, but one can make one at home of the diffusion type. It is at
ambient pressure but cooled below with dry ice, and a pad with alcohol on it
is but at the top.
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tod
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response 33 of 480:
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Sep 30 22:29 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 34 of 480:
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Sep 30 23:58 UTC 2003 |
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/~adf4/cloud.html
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keesan
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response 35 of 480:
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Oct 1 20:34 UTC 2003 |
Jim's neighbor two houses over, who walks to work at the ISR, left a lemonade
cup full of cut flowers from her garden and a card with an offer to pick up
anything we wanted at the food coop or farmer's market.
The drug company that makes Adriamycin (doxorubicin) says they cannot do
anything except send me info from the package insert, and forward symptom
reports to the FDA. I hope my voice comes back next year.
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keesan
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response 36 of 480:
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Oct 1 20:39 UTC 2003 |
Today I weigh 101 pounds and the second virus that I have had this month is
finally at the sneezing stage (after five days of intermittent headache,
chills, stuffy head). I need to get over this before chemotherapy next
Monday. Jim even turned on the heat to keep the room at 65 degrees.
My lymphoma-inspired high white blood cell count seems to have protected me
from all the colds going around for several years and now it is my turn to
get all of them in a row, I think. This one has intestinal symptoms, just
what I need when the chemotherapy also has the same effects.
Off to find a handkerchief.
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dah
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response 37 of 480:
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Oct 1 20:46 UTC 2003 |
Poor keesan.
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cross
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response 38 of 480:
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Oct 1 21:32 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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tod
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response 39 of 480:
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Oct 1 22:41 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 40 of 480:
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Oct 1 23:31 UTC 2003 |
Thanks for all the support. It is not a bad cold, and I did manage to get
over the first one before my 3 days of low resistance and not catch this one
until afterwards so my timing is so far perfect.
I had to refrain from shaking hands with two visitors today (Jim's old
neighbor from before I met him, and his wife) not because they might get me
sick but vice versa. They told me about a friend who had surgery twice for
a non-malignant brain tumor and the surgery somehow removed her sense of taste
so she has to work at eating enough. She lost the hearing in one ear too.
It was 45 and windy and I thought I should skip today's walk until my headache
at least went away (it is mild but I am taking it as a warning) so I decided
to learn to climb stairs instead today. I can already manage the three steps
to Jim's house without his help so I decided to climb five of the stairs
leading to his upstairs. I made it to the top (and threatened to help him
clean up his room) and back down. Down was a bit wobbly. I suppose instead
of climbing one more step every day I can climb all the steps one more time
every day. I have eliminated one excuse for not working - my apartment has
a basement bathroom. But it is 1.5 miles from here and I cannot walk that
far yet.
I could also exercise by lifting the medical dictionary - with both arms.
If I try with just one hand it stays glued to the desk by a corner.
Yesterday we found two more sour apple trees at another nursing home.
Our visitors declined to try the dried pears because they are not eating
carbohydrates including fruit. A few years ago they were doing a grapefruit
diet. Fads change. They urged me to eat chocolate ice cream.
I am reading a book about kitchens of great chefs. Apparently now that
everyone has a restaurant style gas stove the latest fad is to cook over a
wood fire instead. I predict kerosene stoves next - still in use by people
in small villages in Vermont and I think the Amish. There are models where
you can use either wood or kerosene. One chef has to 'movable islands' =
tables on wheels.
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gelinas
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response 41 of 480:
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Oct 2 03:23 UTC 2003 |
Zingerman's Roadhouse is reported to have a wood stove, but the one visible
from the dining room looked like gas. It had the knobs, anyway.
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tod
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response 42 of 480:
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Oct 2 15:15 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 43 of 480:
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Oct 2 15:40 UTC 2003 |
One of my neighbors built on a house size addition behind the house which I
think they are heating with wood. When they heat, the whole block gets
smoked. Not appropriate to heat with wood around neighbors.
Today my virus is a bit worse so I went back to sleep until 11 when UPS rang
the bell to deliver my 3" 5.5 lb/sq. ft. quilted covered foam mattress topper
ordered two weeks ago. The first time I ordered it never got shipped so Jim
called a week later and someone said he would go ship it immediately.
What we got has a terry cover and is 20 lb (Iower density). They said to tape
it back up for UPS to pick up (probably tomorrow) and they would mail out the
proper model today. They also did not include the requested invoice or
receipt that I needed for insurance to reimburse me but will send one today.
Good thing I am not busy.
I am about to phone U of M to see of they send pap smears to St. Joe's to be
analyzed and if so to find out why St. Joe's billed me directly instead of
U of M. I think they said something about sending them out. Wish me luck
finding someone who knows what happened at both hospitals.
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keesan
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response 44 of 480:
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Oct 2 16:55 UTC 2003 |
The drug company (which has apparently been renamed from Bedford Labs after
the city in Ohio where it is located to 'Boehringer Ingelheim Ben Venue
Laboratories) suggested I call the National Cancer Institute (still getting
govt. money) for more info. They found reference to the ovarian cancer study
in Physician's Desk Reference (as standard reference book on current drugs)
with 1% incidence of laryngitis but 5.5% incidence of pharyngitis - same study
I found online. I think what I have is swelling of the throat which is
interfering with swallowing and talking. They also found in a textbook on
drugs reference to the swallowing problem as anaphylactoid (allergic like
beesting reaction). Hopefully all anaphylactoid reactions eventually clear
up when you stop aggravating them. One time when I got my ankle stung and
my whole leg got swollen up it took a few weeks to unswell and I was still
getting hives from cold water or air all summer after that. I will try to
avoid cold liquids and foods and hope this is all cleared up by next summer
(a few months after the last treatment).
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gelinas
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response 45 of 480:
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Oct 2 17:20 UTC 2003 |
(I like the smell of woodsmoke.)
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happyboy
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response 46 of 480:
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Oct 2 17:36 UTC 2003 |
(sets your house on fire)
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keesan
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response 47 of 480:
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Oct 2 20:50 UTC 2003 |
U of M has agreed to pay the $38 billed by St. Joe's, on the assumption that
the pap smear slide that I brought to U of M with a form labelled St. Joe's
was accidentally sent from U of M to St. Joe's. The doctor is supposed to
get the correct U of M requisition forms.
We went for a walk and nothing in this area has frozen. There was a purple
butterfly bush in full bloom with an orange butterfly on it.
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davel
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response 48 of 480:
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Oct 3 13:18 UTC 2003 |
(wood smoke tends to encourage my asthma.)
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keesan
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response 49 of 480:
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Oct 3 13:20 UTC 2003 |
Today my head does not hurt and I slept with one blanket instead of three (in
a heated room) so I don't need to worry about being sick during chemotherapy
on Monday. (I may push my luck by going to a church rummage sale - warmer
place to walk than outdoors anyway).
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